Mona Miyasato is Dakota, an enrolled member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe. Her educational career began in 1972, after 3.5 years at the University of Wisconsin. She holds a BS and MS-Education from Black Hills State University and has two years of coursework from University of South Dakota at the doctorate level. Mona calls herself a teacher when asked about her profession, although she has a broad range of educational practice as assistant principal, principal and superintendent at K-12 school levels. Other experience comes from grants writing, programs management and coordination in areas of health and education. Although retired, Mona continues to consult when asked to do so, and continues to work with curriculum development projects. Her home is in Rapid City, SD where she loves home improvement, decorating projects. When she is not taking care of grandchildren, she spends focus-time on D/Lakota concepts, some of which she shares in her writing. One of her hobbies is genealogy, but she finds all kinds of research and learning appealing.